PLASTICITY OF CORTICAL ENSEMBLE CONNECTIVITY IN VISUAL LEARNING

视觉是一种关键的感官形态，我们依靠它在世界中导航并理解我们的 周围的环境。视觉系统障碍会导致严重的人际关系缺陷和经济损失 被赦免。尽管在描述视觉感知的细胞基础方面取得了很大进展， 人们对处理视觉信息的大脑回路的连通性知之甚少，更不用说 了解这种连接性如何随时间变化。我建议利用尖端的机器人和 光学技术，以阐明神经元群(共同活动的细胞群)是如何在 初级视觉皮质(V1)，产生视觉知觉的新皮质区域。V1展览中的剧团 具有定义功能词汇的可重复的空间和时间结构的活动模式 大脑皮层微电路。最近已经表明，合奏的激活是必要的，并且 足以进行视觉感知。赫比安假说表明，反复出现的神经元 随着时间的推移，协同活动(合奏)之间的突触联系可能比 传到整体之外的神经元。我将开发一个高通量工具来测试这个Hebbian假说 使用机器人电生理学和全息技术在整体内实现优先突触连接 光遗传刺激(目标1)。然后我将描述大脑皮层的功能和结构变化 用小鼠神经元慢性双光子钙成像研究视觉学习过程中的微回路 视觉皮质，与Hebbian的突触可塑性和学习假说有关(目标2)。成功 完成目前的项目将在集合活动和联合活动之间建立结构性联系 大脑在视觉学习过程中，产生了对视觉更完整的理解 治疗，这是解决缺乏有效的失明治疗选择的先决条件。

Vision is a critical sensory modality that we depend on to navigate through the world and understand our surroundings. Disorders of the visual system lead to severe interpersonal deficits and to economic immiseration. Although much progress has been made describing the cellular basis of visual perception, little is known about the connectivity of brain circuits that process visual information, and even less is known about how this connectivity changes over time. I propose to leverage cutting-edge robotic and optical technologies to clarify how neuronal ensembles (coactive groups of cells) are connected in the primary visual cortex (V1), the neocortical region where visual perception arises. Ensembles in V1 exhibit activity patterns with reproducible spatial and temporal structures which define the functional vocabulary of cortical microcircuits. It has been recently shown that the activation of ensembles is necessary and sufficient for visual perception. The Hebbian hypothesis suggests that neurons that are repeatedly coactive over time (ensembles) are likely to be more strongly synaptically connected to one another than to neurons outside of the ensemble. I will develop a high-throughput tool to test this Hebbian hypothesis of preferential synaptic connectivity within ensembles using robotic electrophysiology and holographic optogenetic stimulation (Aim 1). I will then describe the functional and structural changes of cortical microcircuits during visual learning using chronic two-photon calcium imaging of neurons in the mouse visual cortex, in relation to the Hebbian hypothesis of synaptic plasticity and learning (Aim 2). Successful completion the current project will establish a structural link between ensemble activity and the activity of the brain during visual learning, yielding inroads towards a more complete understanding of visual processing, a prerequisite to addressing the dearth of effective treatment options for blindness.